The Conference Board Employment Trends Index (ETI) edged up in June. The index now stands at 111.64, up from 111.59 (a downward revision) in May. The ETI figure for June is 3.8 percent higher than a year ago.

"In the second quarter of 2013, the Employment Trends Index grew more slowly than in the previous two quarters," said Gad Levanon, Director of Macroeconomic Research at The Conference Board. "Even though employment has been growing faster than expected in recent months, the current slowing of the ETI suggests that acceleration in employment growth is unlikely in the near future."

June's improvement in the ETI was driven by positive contributions from four of its eight components. The increasing indicators — from the largest positive contributor to the smallest — were Industrial Production, Initial Claims for Unemployment Insurance, Number of Temporary Employees, and Real Manufacturing and Trade Sales.

The Employment Trends Index aggregates eight labor-market indicators, each of which has proven accurate in its own area. Aggregating individual indicators into a composite index filters out "noise" to show underlying trends more clearly.